- Jun 25, 2003
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Right now I am reading "HE Choose the Nails" by Max Lucado (which fits perfectly with all the hype about the Passion) and I thought this was so powerful I wanted to share with you guys.
I dont want this to be a debate, but I just want to share it with you
(This is take out of chapter #4)
Come with me to the hill of Calvary and I will tell you why.
Watch as the soildures shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soildier lifts the hammer to strike it.
Couldnt Jesus have stopped Him? with a flex of his biceps. with a clench of the fist, he could have resisted. Is this not the same hand that stilled the sea? Cleansed teh temple? Summoned the dead?
But the fist dosent clench... and the moment isnt aborted. The matllet rings and the skin rips and the blood begins to drip, then rush. Then the questions follow. Why? Why didnt Jesus resist?
"Because he loved us," we reply. That is true, wonderfully true, but-forgive me- only partially true.. There is more to his reason. He saw something that made him stay. As the soildier pressed his arm, Jesus rolled his head to the side, and with his cheek resting on the wood he saw:
A Malllet? Yes
A nail? Yes
The soldiers hand? Yes
But he saw something else. He saw the hand of God. It appeared to be the hand of a man. Long fingers of a woodworker. Callous palms of a carpennter. It appeared common. It was, however, anything but.
These fingers formed Adam out of clay, and furrowed truth into tablets
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And the hands of salvation as he died.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldnt bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.
The hand squeezing the handle was not a roman infantryman.
The force behind the hammer was not an angry mod.
The verdict behind the death wasnot decided by jealous jews.
JESUS HIMSELF CHOSE THE NAILS.
He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice and covered by his blood.
So Jesus himself swung the hammer.
The same hand that stilled the seas stilled your guilt.
The same hand that cleansed teh Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
The nail is the nail of God.
AND THE HANDS OF JESUS OPENED FOR THE NAIL, THE DOORS OF HEAVEN OPENED FOR YOU.
I dont want this to be a debate, but I just want to share it with you
(This is take out of chapter #4)
Come with me to the hill of Calvary and I will tell you why.
Watch as the soildures shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soildier lifts the hammer to strike it.
Couldnt Jesus have stopped Him? with a flex of his biceps. with a clench of the fist, he could have resisted. Is this not the same hand that stilled the sea? Cleansed teh temple? Summoned the dead?
But the fist dosent clench... and the moment isnt aborted. The matllet rings and the skin rips and the blood begins to drip, then rush. Then the questions follow. Why? Why didnt Jesus resist?
"Because he loved us," we reply. That is true, wonderfully true, but-forgive me- only partially true.. There is more to his reason. He saw something that made him stay. As the soildier pressed his arm, Jesus rolled his head to the side, and with his cheek resting on the wood he saw:
A Malllet? Yes
A nail? Yes
The soldiers hand? Yes
But he saw something else. He saw the hand of God. It appeared to be the hand of a man. Long fingers of a woodworker. Callous palms of a carpennter. It appeared common. It was, however, anything but.
These fingers formed Adam out of clay, and furrowed truth into tablets
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And the hands of salvation as he died.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldnt bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.
The hand squeezing the handle was not a roman infantryman.
The force behind the hammer was not an angry mod.
The verdict behind the death wasnot decided by jealous jews.
JESUS HIMSELF CHOSE THE NAILS.
He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice and covered by his blood.
So Jesus himself swung the hammer.
The same hand that stilled the seas stilled your guilt.
The same hand that cleansed teh Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
The nail is the nail of God.
AND THE HANDS OF JESUS OPENED FOR THE NAIL, THE DOORS OF HEAVEN OPENED FOR YOU.
